#because I somehow wrote a lot of s4 fic??

[scarletslippers]

So. How we feeling today my Drewds?

[inawickedlittletown]

No Queerbaiting Here

A long time ago…I’m talking May of 2021, I wrote a meta post about queerbaiting. Essentially an essay. I wrote it right before the S4 finale of 9-1-1 aired because I was frustrated by Buddie fans calling Queerbait entirely like the boy that cried wolf. I still stand by it. Sort of. 

Now, even back then I was pretty clear about how 50/50 I was on Buddie ever going canon. (Maybe not in that post but certainly elsewhere) But, I shipped Buddie then and wrote a lot of fic and meta and participated in fandom. I never said it couldn’t happen…I just would never be bothered if it didn’t.

Where we stand now: It’s not going to happen. 

And where I stand now: fully immersed in Bucktommy. And what’s more, I am more than perfectly happy about Buck and Tommy staying together and going the long-run. Although I can still look at Buddie and think it’s a cute ship, I just don’t want it in canon. I would not be satisfied if the show went that way. But what’s more if Buck and Tommy don’t work out, that would be disappointing, but I’d be okay as long as they got to be happy. There is, after all, always fanfiction. 

So, I wanted to revisit this concept a bit now that Buck has been confirmed as Bisexual and now that he is in a relationship with a man. Not Eddie. Tommy. And somehow, some Buddie fans are still crying queerbait because their ship is not canon. That’s not how it works. Also…shipping works outside of canon, that’s the whole point of shipping. 

To reiterate from my original post on queerbaiting, here’s the definition from wikipedia:

“Queerbaiting is a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but then do not actually depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ representation. They do so to attract a queer or straight ally audience with the suggestion of relationships or characters that appeal to them, while at the same time attempting to avoid alienating other consumers.” 

Here’s where I stand: Buddie was abandoned a long time ago. If it was ever a real possibility, we won’t ever know. What we do know is that Oliver was aware that at one point he had given them the go-ahead to make Buck Bi. Whether this was by putting Buck and Eddie together or having Buck realize this another way, we just don’t know that. We don’t have that information and nor will it probably ever be provided to us. Narratively, I know that a lot of fans figured the timing of it fit with S4 and that particular finale but we really just don’t know despite what happened in the finale.

I found that interesting looking back at my own post from back then and the discussion that followed where some fans felt that the way the finale went would determine if Buddie would be another queerbait ship. (I think most people agreed after the will scene that it wasn’t queerbait because it did leave a kernel of hope that Buddie might still happen). 

And yeah, I guess you could argue that the network deciding not to go the route of a queer storyline points to missed opportunity. That doesn’t then mean that any queerbaiting occurred or that any fans are owed anything just because something that was set up or that the writers were writing towards was then scrapped by the network. Is it a shame that it didn’t happen in whatever way they wanted to play it out, sure, but only because Buck would have been confirmed queer earlier. In the same vein isn’t it nice that we have a confirmed Bisexual Buck now? That the show managed to bring it back to that.

A Buck that is happy and free and that has realized something so monumental about himself? Isn’t it nice that all the queer coding that Buck as a character has received since the start of the show is actually finally not just queer coding but full on character development? That we can look back at the show and see all the things Buck did around other men for exactly what they were. 

When Tommy first returned to 9-1-1 in S7, I think a lot of us were excited by the spoilers about Buck and Tommy because of Bi Buck, but also because this was the thing that could lead to Buddie. 

And then…then Tommy was actually on my screen and I doubted it. I actually thought maybe the spoilers were wrong and this was about Eddie and Tommy? That episode flipped things in such an expertly way that by the time Tommy and Buck were sharing a kiss for the first time I was right there with Buck. On a second watch, it is all there. Buck was never jealous because his friend was ignoring him. He was jealous because his best friend had the attention of the guy whose attention he wanted for himself. The writing on that was perfect and no amount of twisting it can change what happened on screen. 

Buck was not jealous because of Eddie. Tommy was never interested in more than friendship with Eddie. And Buck and Tommy have nothing to do with Buddie. Tommy is not a stepping stone, a way for Buck to be ready to then embark on a relationship with Eddie. That’s both disrespectful to Tommy and Buck, but just not what the story being told on the show is doing. 

The storyline is monumental. Having a big strong guy, a firefighter, figure out his sexuality in his thirties is such good storytelling and add to that Tommy. Someone that we already know, who already works as a first responder, and who can show up and wow Buck in such a way that he realizes something about himself? This is what I’ve always wanted. Because guess what, Buck never questioned his sexuality before this. Not when he met Eddie and not when he met anyone else, not until Tommy. 

Going into the new season we know a few things and one of those is that Buck and Tommy are thriving. The media coverage talks about them as a solid couple, it talks about Buck having someone to turn to and complain to. It talks about how they are still in the getting to know each other phase and I love that for them. I love how they are being treated and described and I can’t wait to see what plays out for them and how much of the build up of their relationship we may get to actually see. 

Do you know what the media and the show never talked about outwardly like this? Buddie. Whenever it came up it was always brushed aside in a way that was respectful to fans and what they saw, but without ever confirming or hinting that the show would ever go there. They never queerbaited anyone with Buddie, what they have done is say “yeah…we know what you see” and then turned around and given us a Buck and Eddie friendship and Buck kissing Tommy, going on a date with Tommy, and thriving with Tommy. 

So, no queerbaiting here on the show where half of the major canon pairings are queer. It’s actually more like some fans baiting other fans with theories and headcanons that just don’t fit.

[terapsina]

SEND ME A SHIP (+ number) AND I WILL TELL YOU... Carol/Maria 2, 15 (Captain Marvel/The Marvels) and because I am me! Hizzie 10, 11, 20

Carol and Maria

2. ...why I do or don't ship them.

I ship them. I ship them quite a LOT. And that's because from the MOMENT we started seeing those flashbacks, it felt like I was watching a love story.

And then they had their reunion and Maria looked like the breath had been knocked right out of her chest. And Carol with this hangdog expression? And the piles of photographs that Maria had kept to remember Carol?

I'm sorry, but this isn't just friendship.

Add in amnesia during which most of the memories that were trying to break through revolved around Maria and her daughter? A kid that Carol was clearly around so much that even after YEARS of being missing she still seemed to think Carol hung the moon? I mean, COME ON, I can be expected to be only so strong here.

And The Marvels did NOT help. If anything Carol was pining after all that she had lost even MORE.

It's like a tragic fairy tale.

15. ...how I wish their story would go/would have gone.

Well first of all I wouldn't have killed Maria. Because it's stupid and I hate it.

Second of all I wouldn't have had Carol ghosting the woman she was clearly in love with and their daughter for 20 years.

Because it's stupid and I hate it.

Or if I did do that, then The Marvels would have involved a very chaotic Time Travel fix it.

Ideally she'd have remained in contact and gotten back together with Maria in the intervening years (FYI here's a fic I found where Carol does go back and it's adorable (or here's an old fic I wrote that contains a smidge of how I would have wanted Carol to have kept in touch)) and though I do think I want to have kept Monica getting dusted by the Snap (because I do enjoy SOME angst), Maria would have been snapped too.

And then Carol would have gotten the both of them BACK.

But that was ideally.

Now, my hopes rest on Carol finding a way to get back the stranded Monica (or to join her). Because if they're making this Alternate Universe Maria be kind of a mirror of Carol... then let's go all the way here and have this Maria be mourning her Carol the same way our Carol is mourning her Maria.

They can be each other's second chance.

---

Hope and Lizzie

10. ...rate the level of stupid they reach in their pining.

Can we reach levels above 10 out of 10? Because... duuude. When you have Lizzie constantly casting herself to play one half of a romcom couple and yet convinced that she's the matchmaker, or third wheel? And Hope being Lizzie's Totally Personal Hero? And Lizzie constantly pulling a Prince Charming on Hope? And Hope obsessing over Lizzie while lacking humanity all at the same time saying with her whole chest how she cares nothing about Lizzie?

AND BOTH OF THEM SOMEHOW COMPLETELY IGNORING THE BIG FLASHING LIGHT OF THE SIRE BOND AND WHAT THAT MEANS?

*voice full of saccharine condescension*: 'oh, honey'.

11. ...how quickly I started shipping them when I got into the fandom.

If memory serves me right... I started shipping them pretty early on. Wayyyyy early on, like before 1x12 even.

But where it became serious was the episode with the dress.

Like, the fact that she just went 'this family heirloom dress needs to be worn by the prettiest girl I know'? Goddammit, Lizzie.

And then of course there's the way you just have to admire the sheer gall of pulling a Klaroline parallel unintentionally?

But most of all... it might have been the way Lizzie spent the episode protectively glaring at the jealous boys. And the way she rushed over to hug Hope when she was about to have her breakdown in the middle of the dance floor.

Also. That face. Specifically.

20. ...how and when they should get/should have gotten together.

Ideally, at the end of the season 5 that never was.

I consider s4 to be the season where Lizzie realized and accepted that she's in love with Hope. Burt also accepted the idea that it was never going to happen and chose to try to move on.

S5 should have been the season where Lizzie is trying to do that while Hope is coming to accept that there's feelings there from her side too and that the idea that she might have realized that too late hurts.

Culminating in a big fight where they finally drop all the cards on the table and address all the things they'd been skirting over.

[divinekangaroo]

What Tommy secretly likes about Lizzie in bed you reckon?

The Alfie shaped dildo killed me XD

Which brings me to the question - are you still planning to write their Paris honeymoon fic?

XD my writing strength/pleasure is taking the most crack seeming premise and making it heartbreaking because let me tell you, wow, did i want that to be an absolute tearjerker

*

Honeymoon fic - it's still on the timeline list as one of three bits of interest for me between S4 and S5, and I've more than half outlined it, but I've been hit with an Absolute Plague of Anxiety lately really crimping recreational activity. The kind that makes opening a partial doc which made perfect sense when I wrote it and read it previously, suddenly seem like a pile of gibberish stacked on top of itself.

So I'm slowing down to try to sort out what's going on, get back into myself again a little. Mostly, I think the anxiety it's the ominous impending cascade of Demands with work, daycare, parental aging needs, legal stuff, financial stuff all lining up, plus ongoing baby-led minor sleep deprivation. Putting sentences together in coherent ways starts to feel like another Demand that my instinctive self is noping out of; but I've been through this before and just have to work through it somehow...

*

Ooh, is that a headcanon!Tommy or a canon!Tommy question? Headcanon sex stuff is easy, I've a long slippery line of these leveraging from (extrapolating? diverging? offshooting from?) very random canon fragments, such as writing his softness/fondness of looking at Lizzie's bare feet actually triggered by my personal OMG NO when Diana stepped on Tommy's boat with her stockinged feet, rather than anything he's ever done with Lizzie's feet. I could go on if this is what you mean?

But canon interpolation feels quite difficult because of how they play the sex scenes - with exception of Tatiana and That Act, which is reused repeatedly throughout the series, the fact he's having sex and/or who with (and the conversations before/after the sex) seems dominant, so there's not a lot of internal sexual interpolation available. He just kind of...has sex. (This is one reason why I was fascinated with the show, TBH: dude has lots of sex and fits a certain stereotype because of that but actually seems kind of...put out by it? performs but doesn't really get into it? is often clearly into the person he's having sex with, but the sex, while enjoyable, is just what's now necessary and he's not particularly for or against it in any personal way?)

If anything, I'd say it's probably Lizzie's facial expressions particularly S5 onwards as intimacy increases: unlike the other sex scenes which are filmed full body, lots of nudity, touching etc, the Lizzie scenes by contrast have Tommy paying a lot of attention to her face more than anything else (albeit that in itself is a consequence of needing to be filmed, and possibly Natasha O'Keeffe has a no-nudity preference they needed to respect? Their scenes are notably different anyway). Even in S2/over the desk, there is a certain kind of Complicated Look he wears when he takes in her face and her sadness, in the aftermath. And if you look at the whole head-cradling, face-smooshing, nose bumping, nuzzling kind of stuff he does to show his connection with others, I imagine a not-too-far stretch is that he likes looking at her very closely throughout. So my bet is on him getting a full secret kick of feeling when he inadvertently makes her smile before/during/after, big and broad and unexpected, like, that’s for me no one else but me I did that, especially because she so hardly ever smiles like that.

[arwamachine]

ao3 stats game

Thank you for tagging me, @thetimemoves!

Rules: Give us the links to your wonderful words with the most hits, most kudos, most comments, most bookmarks, most words, and least words.

Most Hits/Kudos/Comments/Bookmarks: Most hits, kudos, and comments—by a landslide—goes to Indefinite Lines. This is my post s4 mega-fuck-off of a fic that endeavored to take everything we were given in canon and turn it into something beautiful. Epic villains. BAMF!Rosie. Love for days.

To Stand Before the Storm still holds the title for most bookmarks, I assume because sheep. 🐑

Fourth Most Kudos: This is You Might Just as Well Be Blind, a fun-as-hell, fake-relationship-for-a-case, only-one-bed fic I managed to churn out at record speed for a fic exchange that somehow managed to turn out not that bad. Bonus BAMF!Hudders.

Most Words: Once again, Indefinite Lines by a landslide! This fic technically takes place over the course of 4,650 days. There was a lot to say.

Least Words: Excluding the Pridelocked poetry I wrote, that would be Origin of a New Species, the first fic I ever posted! This is a bit of an odd one, told from the perspective of a Sherlock who is so bored that he (metaphorically) devolves into a single-celled organism...until John helps, of course. This fic is a perfect example of why fanfic is so fucking awesome, because nowhere else would I be able to write that bullshit and have anyone else be willing to read it 😆

[bluemallow-log]

✍️ fic authors self rec!

When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to other writers you know. Let's spread some self-love! 💛

Omg!! Hi hi hi! Thank you for the ask (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)

Ok so here goes my favourite five fics that I’ve written (in no particular order):

1. Celestial Bodies (Series)

This series consisted of two fics titles: UPRIGHT MOON and REVERSED STAR but I’m going to count them together. I really love writing this fic because it gave me the opportunity to: (1) explore Yachi’s character as an adult; (2) explore Tsukki’s character as an adult; and (3) show the readers about why I think the relationship between Tsukki and Yachi would work very well if they got together.

The Tsukiyachi fandom is very small (especially when compared to other ships in Haikyuu) but that did not deter me from writing almost 60k words of fic for them. As a matter of fact, my love for them grew tenfold after I finished writing this fic ❤️✨

2. Of War and Theatrical Play

This fic was originally inspired by the SNK S4 soundtrack (Memory Lane). Somehow when I listened to that soundtrack, I thought of a scenario about: “what if Levi and Hange met during a war?”

Then, as someone who loves learning about history, I decided to set the stage during WW2. Then as I did my research, I found that people actually refer to the war arena as “theatre”. It was such an interesting term, and so I kinda made it the main theme of this fic.

It took me quite a long time to finish the fic but afterwards, it felt so great! I really love how the story turned out in the end. I feel so proud of myself because I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone in order to write this 🫶🏼

3. Bunny Slippers

This is my first-ever tsukiyachi fic. I wasn't sure anyone would read it but I wrote it anyway because I simply love writing their dynamics 🥰

I really enjoyed putting a lot of subtle romantic elements in the story. I think the idea behind this fic is how your space will slowly be influenced by your partner as your relationship progresses.

I had a lot of fun writing this (:

Also, without this fic, the Celestial Bodies series would not exist

4. Tales from the Ackerman Estate

This fic literally raised me as a writer. I learned a lot of things from writing this fic

I never would’ve thought I would write a long-ass fic but here I am. 200k words and still counting 😳

At first I thought no one would read it because afaik not many people enjoy historical genre. But clearly I was wrong. I’m so glad people seem to like this fic 💕

I really love working on this fic because I feel I have this place where I can share my passion for history and for psychoanalyzing these characters 😆❤️

5. Don’t You?

If I can offer you some advice, please do not read this fic‼️ I had only my phone notes app and my love for levihan when I published this fic HAHAHA

This fic was not beta-read AND IT WAS NOT PROOF-READ. I’m PRETTY sure this fic was written with bad grammar and poor spelling (I don’t even want to read this fic to check because I’m too embarrassed).

But still, I have a special place in my heart for this fic because this is legit THE first fic that I’ve ever published.

Despite how hard I cringe at the writing, I do recall the happiness and joy that I felt when I wrote this fic. I can still remember the thrill and the nerve when I decided to publish it. I also remember the excitement that I felt when I received my first-ever comment. That’s precisely why I’ll never delete or edit it.

It’s my time capsule. I look at this fic as a proof that I am brave and as a sign that I have come a long way. I keep them with love as it is the one that started my journey, and I’m very grateful that it exist 🥰

[undertheknightwing]

I'm sure this is absolutely predictable of me but - your boy Gar and my girl Rach for "Send me a character" 💚🖤

The siblings of all time ✨️

Garf first 🐯

First impression

Oh baby boy. Such a sweetie pie 🥺 *watches Asylum* Whoa! This show is actually letting Gar have a character besides goofy sidekick?? This just got so much more interesting.

Impression now

So that was a fucking lie. Buttt.. if I wrote out my true impression of him now we'd be here all day so imagine I'm unfolding a comically long list of my Gar thoughts because there’s a lot. The less the show did with him, the more I got to over analyze and create from there.

Favorite moment

When he's left in the tower and just messes around for a few days. I re-watch it all the time. It's very relatable too, I get sad and unmotivated after a day without having people to talk to as well. Also that scene from s3 ep1 when he's talking to himself in his room, I love his silly facial expressions, and "nothing tops a Super" has been burned into my brain.

Idea for a story

Fic wise? You'll just have to wait and see 👀

Unpopular opinion

I don't think it's really unpopular but his hair is so bad. I wasn't a fan of it in s3 but s4 made it so much worse. I'm also not a huge fan of his suit but that's for "it looks cheap and plain compared to the other ones" reasons.. like the abs on it look like the kind you'd see on a Halloween costume. It's weird.

Favorite relationship

In canon.. I don't really know. Gar's character felt it went from "DickKory's son" level of importance to just "oh yeah that guy" throughout the seasons. Gar's relationships with the characters (besides Rachel) is pretty surface level imo, especially in seasons 3 - 4. But whatever Gar's relationship with the Red is seems cute. It changed it's realm color for him and looks to care about him a lot through what I saw in the episode. He's clearly the favorite child and I love that for him.

Favorite headcanon

I got one too many of those, but him being able to purr is always a great one, and acting cat-like at times. Empty box? That's his now. Left a cup on the island? It's pushed onto the floor. Nothing is safe. He might have left a dead bird somewhere as a gift too, who knows.

And just for fun have some songs that gives me his vibes: Shapeshifter by Brye, The Garden by The Crane Wives, and Wild Things by Alessia Cara

It's Rach time 🖤

this is more your territory so I'm sorry if it's a little lackluster 😅

First impression

Precious girl. So precious. Must be protected at all costs. I really like this take on her powers and character.

Impression now

Much like Gar, she got the short end of the stick in the show tbh. She went from being the most important to a side plot thing which sucks. She should have had much more to do in season 4 since they were dealing with her family.

Favorite moment

I like a lot of her scenes in season 1 the most. Her interacting with the Doom Patrol was cute.

Idea for a story

That's your thing lol but I never liked how they always kept her stories tied to Trigon somehow in any media so I would give her a more unique story about something else.

Favorite relationship

She and Kory were my favorite for a long time but I've warmed up to her and Dick's father-daughter relationship because of you. So I choose them 💙🖤

Favorite headcanon

She's an artist who prefers painting over the other arm forms and painted something special for all the Titans members.

And some songs for your duo: Protector by City Wolf or Calm Me Down by American Authors, they have season 1 vibes

Thank you Mundi! 🖤💚

[orangepanic]

(Asking politely) directors commentary on The Uniform Bet?

In response to this ask (I'm slowly working through my asks y'all, thanks for your patience!)

Thank you for asking! This is a fic I rarely get questions about so I'm delighted.

I wrote The Uniform Bet as a gift for my friend @chiefbeifongcanrailme. She's maybe the #1 Lin Beifong fan ever, so right away I knew Lin was going to be the center of the fic. I also knew I wanted it to be fairly NSFW because, well, Lin deserves it. But I couldn't really settle on a ship. Lin and Commander Bumi? Lin and Mako? Lin and General Iroh? All worthy relationships that don't get much attention. Then I remembered my audience, and her brilliant fic, Chaos, in which Lin is hot and everyone wants to bang her. And I thought, why re-invent the wheel?

After that, the pieces fell into place mostly on their own. While I don't have quite as much of the "the Gaang were all one big happy family and they all married each other" headcanons as some folks, I do like the idea that Lin and Bumi have known one another a long time. I love them as a 40-year friends-to-lovers arc that starts with them each thinking it's a joke until it's somehow not a joke anymore, and pretty much always write them that way. They're dynamic ships itself.

Of all the characters in this fic, I obviously know General Iroh the best. Because I've largely made him up. And while I love him to death, his style is the exact opposite of Bumi and Lin's sarcastic teasing. Even in a good mood he's too serious. So right off the bat in the first chapter I had Lin and Bumi yukking it up and Iroh having none of it. The rest of the plot sort of fell in around this dynamic. So, what situation would Bumi and Lin let roll off their shoulders that Iroh would take too seriously and pout about?

Going alone to a wedding.

I headcanon Iroh as the romantic. He wants to date someone. Badly. He wants to throw flowers at their face and shower them with kisses and love them forever and ever and ever like the dork that he is. A wedding he's alone at is like a knife in his heart. Lin and Bumi, however, would I think care a lot less about the context. Neither married. A wedding wouldn't mean as much as not having a specific person in a specific relationship. This quickly became Lin and Bumi thinking thoughts about a relationship with each other while Iroh makes lonely sad faces at the world. Which brings us to Mako. Guess who else would be alone at a S4 wedding? This is too easy.

And that was largely it. Combining the principles of a) Lin is hot and everyone knows that, b) Lin and Bumi are thinking thots but won't say them, c) Iroh is sad and annoyed, d) Mako is single and oblivious led me to both the idea of the bet between Lin and Bumi about which pathetic single firebender they could get a date for first as well as Iroh's counter-plan to get the two of them off his back. Mako, who had zero to do with the set up, is mostly along for the ride here. Lin wants to walk with him? Hot. Lin wants to get fucked against the wall of her hotel room? He's not complaining. Share Lin with Bumi? Weird, but he could get used to it. He's a nice guy, and it's better than not getting laid at all.

But because it's me my hand slipped and Iroh wound up with a love match of his own at the end. Completely unintended side plot.

Ask me for a Director's Cut commentary of any fic.

[starwritesficsandstuff]

I’m curious, got any more cotc snippets or fics you maybe working on? Also, how do you like S4 so far :)

I've mostly moved on from my old Craig of the Creek fics, but I do intend to finish the Missing People AU fic sometime because it's based off of someone else's story. The reason I haven't done much for it the past few years is that I lost a lot of motivation for it, and I really want to do the story justice.

Besides that, I do have some unfinished fics/concepts kicking around. I looked through the docs and there were some that I even forgot about, like a Raj/Shawn fic that seems like it was going to be hurt/comfort and invlove thinking about growing up and all that jazz. I also had a rough outline done for a fic about how the champions were chosen and got their powers, but I wasn't meshing well with what I had and eventually Champion's Hike came out and somewhat addressed that topic so I put the idea to rest. There was going to be at least one more entry in All The Kings Men called Royal Blood. It involved Cheyenne getting fed up with Xavier being around the house all day and being the spoiled brat he is, so she and Randy both go to the creek to find a way for Xavier to somehow be unbanished. Royal Blood is technically the ending of that series, but I also had some other ideas I could always revisit, and as it is All The King's Men does have a satisfying conclusion with Another Side, Another Chance.

I actually have this snippet that was cut from Sweet as Honeysuckle. I wrote it before I decided I was going to make a series, and before I knew what I was going to do with the Champions. After I figured out what I was going to do with these characters and the series as a whole, it obviously needed to be trimmed so they wouldn't be out of character, but I liked it enough to hold onto it. Here it is:

Shawn's shoe connected with a long, slender leg, and he fell to the ground.  His face practically glowed with embarrassment that he'd been tripped in front of his new boyfriend, even though Raj had seen it happen before.  It felt so different now.

Raj wasn't concerned with the grace, or lack thereof, of Shawn, however.  He was by Shawn's side in an instant, and helped him up.  "Are you okay?  Are you hurt?" he asked, brushing off the dirt that lingered on Shawn's shirt.

"Yeah," Shawn answered.

Two laughs were peppered over their exchange.  Raj cast a glare past Shawn towards the perpetrators.  Shawn could recognize the sound of Keun and Aggie before he turned to join in with his own scowl.  The person who tripped him in question stood over him with a wide grin.

Watch where you're going, stupid,Jackie signed, shoulders shaking with laughter in spite of his silence.  Shawn looked away from him so he wouldn't have to listen to him anymore.

Raj huffed, "Who are you trying to impress?  Your "king" is gone, and no amount of sucking up to him is actually going to give you any more popularity or power."

In response, Jackie shaped his hand into an 'L' and held it up to his forehead, earning another spatter of giggles from his two companions.  No one needed to understand sign language to know what that meant.

--

As for season 4, it's great! There are so many episodes I rewatch time and time again, like Hyde and Zeke, Galactic Goodbye, Dodgey Decisions, The Quick Name, and Champion's Hike especially. I'd name more, but I don't have the time lol, I'd be here all night!

So yeah, cotc fics again sometime in the distant future, and most of the ones I'm set on doing are already planned/outlined. The second chapter of Children of the Creek and bits of Royal blood have even been started. It's all about when I find the motivation to get back to working on them. In the meantime, expect a lot of Pokemon and Pizza Tower, since those are the only things getting me through my finals at the moment.

[rigginsstreet]

ok here's a confession: i'm in the stranger things fandom and I've never actually seen the show.

it was really popular when it aired and i knew people loved it, and i didn't have an aversion to it cos it was popular the way i did with mcr (which i now love hgjfdksl) but i just... never got around to it. and then s4 dropped last year and somehow, sOMEHOW, i got hooked and wrote like 85k of a fic for a show I've never seen. i'll watch it one day!! i'm curious!! i just also like the little fantasy i have in my head

also im a billy stan BUT i genuinely find the billy fandom kind of. terminally online. like no offence to y'all and your very accurate posts and takes about abuse survivors and defending him but. there's a time to log off guys. please can we go outside. enough's enough stop gracing idiots who don't like him with your time it's not worth it, seriously, aren't yall tired??

also also about billy, i think its true he's not as bad as people say regarding lucas but i feel like we CAN say he is behaving in a racist way to lucas WITHOUT demonising him fully. like. he still bullies and targets lucas, and yeah its because of neil forming those opinions in him but it's still directly racist actions and hurts lucas disproportionately. like we can agree billy is a severe trauma and abuse victim AND admit that he is racist too, like come on it's rural Indiana in the 80s, no white kid is a shining beacon of civil rights and that INCLUDES our golden boy. i'd say this about steve and nancy and eddie and even robin stans too but none of them actually want to confront that those characters have flaws or even traits they don't like, i find the billy stans a little more open to criticing character choices and motivations even if i think we can apply it a little more to billy himself.

anyway. this was super long sorry hfjgdksl;

see i feel like a lot of this is because you have not seen the show lmfao

billy was not born and raised in indiana so.... the culture of that specific town has no affect on him? like obviously racism was not specific to rural towns but the wording of that was.... a choice. also... if you... watch the show... you would see lucas is targeted because his proximity to max. a relationship no other characters have. so yes, the duffers intended it to be racist, but they cannot write. so it becomes very muddled

also i agree people need to stop giving clout to antis (unless some truly dumb shit has been said, as per the recent incident) but i also feel like our definitions of terminally online are... vastly different

[astrobei]

Also any other fanfic writing tips? Do you have thoughts on chaptered fics vs longer one-shots? Do you ever struggle with characters feeling ooc?

I'm working my way up to finishing a couple WIPs and am very very nervous about posting them on ao3 😬😬

ooshdjsfh i think it’s funny when ppl ask me for writing advice bc i am a Mess but i will try my hardest to be helpful w this!

for the first bit, personally i’m a fan of oneshots, both writing and reading (there are exceptions for both ofc!!) just because i usually don’t have the attention span to write or read chaptered fics unless they’re finished and under 5 chapters ! but both of my chaptered fics are/were chaptered literally because i wrote too much to make it a oneshot without it feeling kind of clunky and awkward LOL i don’t usually write fics with big fleshed out plots anyway, and it’s more like a general storyline with a focus on individual scenes instead of the overarching plot, so i’ll write it all in one go! and i always write more than i think i will, so stories i plan to be like 10-15k ALWAYS end up at least 20k somehow 😭 personally i just rly appreciate when chaptered fics are consistent w uploading (as much as possible for the author) because it’s really hard for me to commit otherwise, which is why i don’t rly write them myself!!

and Oh My God anon,, i struggle CONSTANTLY w characters feelings ooc im always so concerned w my mike especially, since so much of s3 and 4 was more will pov and we didn’t get as much of an insight into mike’s internal struggles and thoughts like we did with will (the castle byers scene, van scene, jonathan talk, etc) so i’m always worried that the way i interpret him is not the same way that others might! and characters like lucas and dustin and max are easier since their povs in the show have stayed pretty consistent since their first appearances, and even will is easier for me to write (although i prefer mike which is pretty obvious maybe LOL) but mike Stresses Me Out a lot,, whew !!

if ur having trouble w that my advice (or at least what i do, take it w a grain of salt siskfjsjf) is think whether or not u could imagine this character saying that in the show. like, if this dialogue was added to a scene would it feel weird and out of place? do they usually use words like that? are there words used in the show specific to this character? (e.g: robin with “dingus”) i do take a lot of creative liberty w characters like mike and will especially when writing fluff fics, since so much of s4 and the end of s3 has been Sad and we haven’t gotten much humorous interaction from them, but i always try to ask myself if it’s true to their dynamic. like, mike would never ever pull off being suave and cool (except maybe in will’s unreliable narrator pov) because he gets flustered and is kind of an idiot and will is canonically a little bitchy and a little snarky and one of the only people who can put mike in his place so .

and thinking abt their motivations and Why they act/think the way they do: in byler’s case for example, will is selfless to a fault where he keeps putting other people before him, he’s so scared of his own needs making him selfish or a bad person that he often backpedals too far trying to amend that (s4!!) but he gets frustrated pretty easily (he’s the one that’s Started both of the infamous byler fights, the one that blows up first) and isn’t afraid to call mike out on things !! vs mike who tries really really hard, and has so much love for the people in his life but he’s inexperienced in it and doesn’t know how to show it in the way they want (saying ily to el, being a good friend to will) and a lot of his own inner monologue being fueled by the fear that the people in his life don’t need him anymore and yk . stuff like that . idk i just think abt these things a lot when i write!

anyways i am not qualified in the slightest to give any of this advice so FEEL FREE TO IGNORE THIS !! but anon if u ever end up publishing those wips (pls do) PLEASE don’t hesitate to drop me a link i’d love to check them out! posting fics can be rly scary but my advice would be to have as much fun with it as u can! play around w tropes and dialogue and writing styles and povs as much as u want. it can be easy to get caught up in writing what u think ppl want to read or thinking u Have to write smth bc someone asked for it but literally just write whatever u want (that’s like . not insane and awful for obvious reasons) and enjoy urself!!

hope this helped !! <3

[alwaysspeakshermind]

would you ever write s4 compliant fluff/anything not angst for your one shot series of varchie? there’s not a lot out there because everyone focuses on the cheating but i thought if you wrote it you would do a really good job because your one shots are the greatest.

SO sorry to be answering this late! I don't know why I didn't reply to this before; my only possible explanation is that I somehow took the notifications off the few times I've tried to log in on mobile bc I never know what I'm doing on mobile it literally takes forever for me to figure out how to reblog/log out.

But anyway, thank you so much! 😘😘😘

And yes, I do want to write some happier S4 stuff because, as you said, everyone focuses on the cheating.

(Which, in my humble opinion, is silly, because RD's S4 cheating storyline was quite possibly the LAMEST cheating storyline in the history of cheating storylines. Like...it sort of ruins my life when a character I love cheats for no reason, but I really couldn't do anything but laugh at the way it went down in S4, because it's just too easy to dismiss as a poor writing decision done to facilitate drama between the main pairings and generate interest in the show, and it wasn't even bad cheating. It was just like...senseless and milquetoasty and very on-brand for that particular pairing's pastel vibes, and I cannot to this day figure out why they didn't just wait a few episodes until the time jump arrived to try to make fetch happen, lol.)

I digress, though. Right now, the only S4 fic I really have in the works is a rewrite of the Varsity Blues ep (I will literally never get over how they promoted it as a big Senior Year! type of ep, hyped the football stuff, and then...found a way to make most of it about the only main characters who have nothing to do with football or cheerleading. Like...really guys? Really?) but I haven't worked on it in a bit because I was trying to finish up the S5 and then S6 stuff I started.

Hopefully I'll be posting something new sometime this weekend though <3

[sade-alicious]

summer reading list except byler edition (all AO3) - im still reading new fics btw so there’ll be updates on this post (updated 10/22)

——————

a dream always the same

Mike learns more about himself in four months than he has in fourteen years and comes to realise that he's fallen in love with his best friend.

A four part historically accurate coming of age story set between July and October 1985.

this one is my number one, its set between the battle of starcourt and when the byers move away, its from mikes pov and not short of amazingly written, it includes all of the canon events in the show towards the end of the s3 finale but manages to tie them in really well, absolutely read this

——————

over a bridge of time

Hawkins isn't the same without Will. So Mike goes to visit him in Chicago.

Set during Thanksgiving in November 1985.

this is a sequel to adats, same thing goes for this work, but be warned, this is the second (but not last) completed work in a series, so its gonna end on a cliffhanger/unresolved problems like the first fic

——————

the red envelope

Will writes a letter to Mike, confessing everything. Unknowingly and stupidly, he lets Mike take the envelope home, forgetting just the amount of secrets inside. At the end of the letter he tells Mike to meet him at Castle Byers Saturday at two, to tell him yes or no. Because of course Will had to ask for Mike to be his boyfriend at the end of the letter. So now Will has two choices, somehow get the letter back, or wait at Castle Byers praying for a miracle?

this one is good, it has an interesting concept and was “will they or wont they?” for me. u can read the sequel, but i really dont like because 1. smut (ew, but dont worry only the sequel has it) 2. it follows a will byers has powers trope, and i dont care for it

——————

touch like velvet

It was easy for Will Byers to fall in love with Mike Wheeler.

The trouble came when he had to pretend it wasn't real.

this one is an au of will and mike not meeting until they’re 17, there is no upside down and el isnt a lab experiment but instead a normal person. will still has the rest of the party, but its sort of split in two. will, lucas, and dustin are all bsfs, and el and max are gfs who are coworkers/friends with mike. this one i truly recommend so so much. its a lengthy slowburn, but it is unfinished and updates slow

——————

im tearing you asunder

The world ends, and then some. Mike and Will find each other again, amidst the debris and distance.

someone made AMAZING fanart based off of this which ill link here. but anyways this ones really nice, mike isnt an asshole and actually treats will like a friend. its a lead off of the s4 finale and ive been obsessed with those fanfics rn. (if you have any recs please comment them🙏)

——————

kiss it better

Mike and Will, through the years and in between the lines of friendship and something more.

i LOVE young mike and will and this one has plenty. it has byler scenarios over the course of their friendship from 5 to 18 which shows their relationship evolving the years. its a great concept in it of itself. but yeah, please read this one

——————

let me lead

this one just has a snippet of the fic so ill try to explain. basically this is a lead off of s4, so pretty much everyone thinks this is their last night alive, and to which mike says “screw it” and invites will over and confronts him about some things

so for my opinion, they wrote it in a scenario like, if i dont say what i think/feel now…when will i? which is great because it helps move things along quickly, so its not exactly a slowburn but they write everything in just under 6k words from el breaking up with mike, to an angsty fight, to byler confessing in a way that doesnt feel rushed

——————

pictures of you

Will is the last one left at Mike's house after a day playing DnD.

Mike brings out an old box, full of memories of their past.

ugh this one is short but its so good. it does a lot in under 3k words and is a great byler first kiss scenario

——————

a game of truths

Mike and Will play a game of truths.

this one is amazing, like the rest of the fanfics ive listed. its one of the more byler centric ones. most of it is just mike and will talking and having their moments. its really cute (esp with young mike and will) and does byler justice without writing two long paragraphs of them just making out. 

——————

8/14/22

——————

where is my mind?

On November 6th, 1985, Will Byers crashed his bicycle while riding home from the Wheeler household, damaging his head and waking up two days later with no recollection of who he was.

Plagued with the absence of his memories and a dark haired boy who refuses to tell Will his name, all Will Byers has to do is remember. That's the hard part.

this is by the same author that wrote “touch like velvet” and they’re a GENIUS. this one like the other fic, its an au aside from the upside down where will just suffers from memory loss instead of getting kidnapped and everything, but its really cute because its like no matter what will and mike still love each other

——————

static re-connection

A miles-apart, oblivious mutual pining, emotional summer vacation disaster-fest starring Mike, Will, and one incredibly unreliable radio connection.

miscommunication trope at its FINEST. once the angst started it hurt, the confession is great and we get plenty of mike and nancy sibling moments👍

——————

i never find out ‘til i’m head over heels

Wherein Mike believes he’s being obvious, Will doesn’t know what he believes, and the pair of them could use a lesson or two in effective communication. Somehow all of this has both nothing and everything to do with five years' worth of school dances.

this ones great but also kind of funny because will’s being the oblivious one instead of mike. its light angst btw so u dont have to worry abt your heart being ripped out of your chest.

——————

10/13/22

——————

head over heels

On their way to Hawkins, the group decides to stay at a motel for the night.

Mike and Will get a moment alone to talk.

i was praying for more byler scenes in volume 2 whether be at a gas station, motel, or literally anywhere else so this fanfic gave us what we deserved, but yea its really cute def recommend !!

——————

undertow

Will has never had his first kiss. Mike is happy to lend a hand

as you can tell its gonna be a mike teaching will how to kiss and those are always cute even tho ive only read two successful versions of this scenario. also madwheeler🫶🫶 its really fluffy and cute at the end so this was also a good 3am read

——————

force of gravity

Will loved ordinary things, an uneventful existence was something he craved. Sadly, when Mike Wheeler walks into his life, Will’s easy going path snaps right in half. A passion he could never imagine overtaking his whole being.

It was too bad their friend groups hated each other and his sister had a huge crush on the musician. Off limits.

Fantastic.

you already KNOW i had to include this one, its too good not too. and you probably already heard of this if not read it bc its like the most popular fanfic among the byler ship/fandom (it might as well be a fandom at this point) right now. but yea the amount of times when i thought they were gonna have a normal conversation but then start argueing is INSANE. hella angst. fluff if you look past the bucket loads of angst and just GO READ IT IF YOU HAVENT

——————

10/22/22

——————

to hell and back again

After Mike unwittingly stumbles into a series of interpersonal bombshells, he immediately sets out to find Will so he can find out what, exactly, that painting meant, and why Will lied about it. Unfortunately, Mike is obsessively obstinate and relentless to a fault, and he'll go to the literal ends of the earth to get the answers he needs.

Or: Mike and Will's Apocalypse Romcom Spectacular

this one is actually super underrated and i havent seen many people talking abt it, and the author has been updating the fic recently too. but ANYWAYS im on chapter 11 rn and its really giving apocalypse byler, what we’ve ALL been praying for for season 5🙏 but other than that its really good so far but OML MIKE NEEDS TO GET HIS PRIORITIES STRAIGHT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THINGS GOOD HE IS SO DOWN BAD ITS LAUGHABLE

[amazonworrier]

Since you’re such a great writer, what are some of your favorite fics? Would love a list :)

Wow, I read the ‘since you’re such a great writer’ line and immediately assumed this was snarky anon hate haha, but thank you! What a lovely compliment.

I’ll probably get real anon hate for saying this, but I actually really struggle with how a lot of Brittana fics portray Brittany so a lot of the favourite fics that spring to mind don’t involve Brittana, even though that’s what I tend to write... Generally speaking, I just find that people overlook her autonomy as an individual character and write everything soooo much from Santana’s side of the story that Britt ends up feeling like a bit of a mouthpiece for whatever lesson Santana is meant to be learning. Or she just comes across as too dumb, or whatever. If the writing is decent, I’ll read those fics all the way through once anyway (because I’m a sucker for Brittana) but then I usually forget about them after that. 

The ones I always go back to are the ones that absolutely nail the characterisation/relationship dynamics we get in the show, then take it to new or interesting places. Sometimes that’s Brittana, sometimes it’s not. Often, it’s Pezberry or Quinntana. I just ship Santana Lopez with happiness, I guess... 

Top 5 (Glee):

1. Got You Stuck on My Body (Like a Tattoo) by random_flores - Quinntana. 

Seriously, I read this thing more often than I read anything else, fic or otherwise. It’s set slightly after the Quinntana slap then loosely follows s4 canon, all told from Quinn’s perspective. Chaotic Pezberry/Kurcheltana friendship, cute little OCs to keep Quinn company, somehow manages to respect Brittana while making you root for Quinntana. I live in hope it’ll either be updated or we’ll get a sequel from Santana’s POV but alas, it’s several years old now... 

2. I Don’t Want to Jump In (Unless this Music’s Thumping) by random_flores - Pezberry 

Pezberry future fic where Santana is a famous actress/DJ and she runs into Rachel after a few years of them not talking to each other. Rachel is a broadway star trying to make it big elsewhere, and she’s in an unhappy showmance with a man-child alcoholic. Pezberry excellence, a side of Faberry/Quinntana friendship, Kurt is an all-round legend, 100% respects canon Brittana up until Britt’s move to MIT, and Brittana are still close friends. I simply love everything about this fic. I want to go and re-read it right now, actually.

3. By The Light of the Moon by thefooliam - Brittana

They’re friends but nobody knows they’re friends! It’s a Grey’s Anatomy-esque AU and by thefooliam who wrote one of my favourite fics ever (Clexa) so obviously it’s gonna be good. Britt is a neo-natal surgeon (I think?) and Santana is the cranky paediatric surgeon who works the night shift with her all the time. Nails the characters, super cute, a little bit angsty, a dash of smut. What more could you want? 

4. Nothing Stays the Same til The World Ends Series by random_flores - Pezberry.

Is it obvious who my favourite Glee fic author is? Everything they write is magnificent, and I want to be like them when I grow up. This is a two part series. Apocalyptic Pezberry AU. Set roughly from season 2-ish onwards I think. Santana and Rachel get stuck trying to survive together after everyone else dies, and there are zombies (kinda). It’s just beautiful. End of story. I re-read it every time I want to hurt myself a little bit.

5. baby you don’t gotta fight (I’ll be here til the end of time) by therestisconfetti - Brittana. 

Remember how I said I didn’t like fics that ignore Brittany’s characterisation/POV? This does the exact opposite, and it does it really well. It’s basically all the moments Britt stood up for Santana that we didn’t see in canon, but probably should’ve. Also, as a side note this author does a heap of great missing-scene-esque Brittana fics, and I appreciate them all. So I’ve linked this one, but highly recommend reading the rest too. They make me feel things.

Bonus - one per ship, for equality: 

seen you skip that cautious lip by ratherembarrassing - Pezberry. 

Pezberry roommates drabble. It’s just cute/a little smutty. It’s kind of how I imagine canon Pezberry would’ve hooked up if that’d been a thing Glee was ever brave enough to actually do. 

I’m just saying by Eggandcheese - Quinntana.

Angsty as hell. Missing Quinntana friendship moments throughout canon, then some additional stuff post them sleeping together after Schue’s not-wedding. 

Rhythms by The Fooliam - Brittana.

Probably an obvious one because it’s a Brittana classic. Honestly, I’d re-read it purely for the body-shots scene alone. The rest of it is good too, but man, those body-shots...

[inevitably-johnlocked]

The Video

Alrighty, so as promised, I listened-slash-watched-slash-backtracked the video over making and eating dinner, with a break in between to take a phone call from my sister, so I may have missed and misunderstood/misheard a few things and may need another rewatch to fix any presumptions I make in this mini (?)-review.

Two things I do need to correct from my last post:

One is that I actually was sent the video to pre-watch before it was posted; I found it in my emails two days later but because I was swamped with day job stuff (as in I was working until 11 PM both days, and I didn’t even sit down until 4 on Saturday), and my fandom email is NOT a primary address so it’s not hooked up to my main Mail server on my MacBook (limited space), I hadn’t checked my emails since Thursday afternoon. So yeah, technically I should’ve known it was out, so apologies: technically I knew it was coming out; my sorry arse just didn’t check my emails.

Second, is that meta I did send her did get referenced and used; some of it word for word (like the discussion about the difference between Johnlockers and TJLC) so meta was read, my bad on assuming it wasn’t before watching.

C’est ça on that front.

A few things that ruffled my feathers and maybe I misheard, but I’ll mention them as I remember it:

I did find it slightly bothersome that the assumption was that Johnlockers that we were a bunch of teenagers (we weren’t – most of the people I talked to were in their 20′s and 30′s and many were academics of varying sorts). SZ was younger than many of us in our little corner of the fandom, I think, and it was filled with amazing meta and university-level papers on queer history, ACD canon history, subtextual writing and literature.  EDIT: I did skim back over to a bit of the beginning since I missed it over making dinner, and I guess a lot of the people who contacted SZ were teens at the time of the airdate, so again, my little bubble and all that and apologies for assuming. :P

This is a totally biased view and probably indicative of how deep down the rabbit hole I was: A bit annoyed at the implication in our belief that Mofftiss weren’t trying to deliberately imply the Gay Sherlock / BiJohn thing especially paying special attention to it during Q&As and meet and greets and interviews; That the cues weren’t there. Though she did point out the queerbaiting aspect of it. I don’t know. Maybe I misunderstood since I was stuffing my gob with pasta and wishing I had a cheesecake.

I think SZ should’ve worded her Twitter callout post a LOT better, because the cons were only mentioned for about 10 minutes, and in only in relation to the drama. She did praise the cons as a positive experience for people, so I’ll give her that.

The Twitter stuff pre-vid-posting still rubs me the wrong way.

Still feel that selling the shirts is tasteless. Mug is cute, though.

Things I did find interesting / good / stuff I didn’t know:

I know I’m a minority in this regard, especially since I am a fence sitter, but I feel... relieved? sorry I can’t think of the word... that SZ essentially did accuse Mofftiss of queerbaiting by the end of it – that it’s not just us who see it. I’ve always said without an S5, it IS queerbaiting, and given that S5 probably won’t happen anytime soon... well. Like I’ve said in the past, I hold out a glimmer of hope. Not holding my breath though.

The mentions of some of the fandom theories and speculations were done tastefully, light jesting but not mocking them.

The discussion section about AA / Mary... Yikes. I forgot it got THAT bad.... I guess because I was always in the “Mary’s a kickass villain” camp so I was blissfully ignorant about that stuff until a few years later. 

The ace stuff, 100% true, and I’m glad it was brought up.

The term “Ragnalock” got a chuckle out of me, will admit that. First time I’ve heard of it.

I had no idea the ARG theory was anything more than thelostspecial website. Somehow I missed that whole thing about it being part of the series itself.

And, a lot of things, in hindsight: just an overall, “yeah. :|”

And some additional notes I can’t really classify one way or another:

Cringing at MYSELF because of some of the post-S4 theories that, looking back: oof. Apple Tree Yard specifically. 

AND cringing at myself because I know I perpetuated a lot of the “IT WILL HAPPEN” in my corner of the fandom pre-S4 because I wanted people to be excited for a new season. For that I am very sorry to everyone who were hurt by my belief. S4 was a brick wall and I hit it hard, thought I do enjoy theorizing about how fake it was. It’s the only way to cope for me, LOL.

Ooof the drama stuff, a lot of it I didn’t know the entire deets about, only about the PPG being involved. I tried to stay out of it when I could and focused mainly on meta writing, my own healing processes, and making people feel welcome. It’s what a few bigger bloggers did for me when I joined by interacting with my posts and offering their kindness, and I wanted to return the favour. Inevitable it had to be covered, but yeah, dark times.

LOOOOOOOL the critique about TFP. Literally stuff that we’ve talked about in our “something’s fucky” tag. 

And to address the elephant in the room: Yes, I DID give SZ meta, but it was the link to fandom meta that is essentially on the header of my blog on desktop, just as I do with anyone interested in the fandom.

Overall, it was a thought provoking vid, a bit of a nostalgia hit to be honest. I thought that it was a good video, interesting in that strange way where you relive strange moments of your past. I feel it was a fair analysis of the fandom, but please, please remember: I can’t speak for those directly involved in the events mentioned, because I WAS NOT THERE. Not my place to disregard their feelings if they have a different opinion than I. 

That said, I think it’s worth a watch if only to see what the fandom WAS. But it’s informative and respectful, I think. Though, I think she could’ve left out the bit at the end just before the credits.

And finally: to anyone who are coming here from the vid: I have been here since S3, joined because of LSiT, and later I wrote villain Mary meta and TAB meta. These days, I primarily have focussed my attentions on curating content, offering my advice on stuff, introducing newbies to the series, and trying to spread positivity, all peppered in with the random theory from time to time, and trying to atone for my... “enthusiasm”?... in the past. I like promoting community and open discussion from all viewpoints, as long as it remains respectful. So yeah, I do have some meta you can check out, just let me know what you’re looking for, and I do lots of fic recs, so if you’re looking for something, hit me up.

Cheers, all. I’m going to bed. 

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

2020 Fic Year In Review

I decided to just fill out this entire Fic Year In Review meme instead of doing it via asks, just to be saucy! And if that sounds like a good life choice to you, then I encourage you to do the same, reader!

1. Favorite fic you wrote this year: building our kingdom (Ideal Home). An act of such doting self-indulgence that it somehow even beats me ridiculously writing fic about my own novel. I just needed a little more time with Paul and Erasmus and Bill, okay?!? I am Obsessed w/ these characters and would happily watch them banter for nine million hours.

2. Least favorite fic you wrote this year: sure as the sea, it’s just you and me (Grace and Frankie). It took me forever to finish it and that stressed me the heck out during a time when additional stress was not ideal! I cannot possibly describe the agony I went through for this fluffy bit of Grace & Frankie fanfiction! Chapter fics + me are not meant to be.

3. Favorite line/scene you wrote this year: I think my favorite line is the last line of building our kingdom, and my favorite scene is the entirety (can I help it if most of the fics I write are one scene??) of the beginning of a beautiful courtship, which is an AU where Luke and Lorelai meet as Chilton parents instead of as they were meant to in Stars Hollow. That was such an interesting thought experiment! I would still rather like to return to that ‘verse a bit more. I’m sorting through my thoughts there.

4. # of words written this year: My AO3 total for the year is 177,637, but that’s because I popped a bunch of old fic over this year, most notably like 97,000 words of Lamentations of a Starry-Eyed Twit. I can’t do math, so this is as much information as you’re going to get.

5. Most popular fic this year: Based on hits, Tell Me (Killing Eve). Eve and Villanelle do some post-s3 chatting, because what fic that I’ve ever written ISN’T just two people having a conversation? I have no idea how I feel about this fic even though I wrote it in June. Is it good? Is it not good? I have NO idea. That’s kind of how I feel about writing fic for Killing Eve in general. How do you write fic for Killing Eve?!?!?

6. Least popular fic this year: Touched By A Gayngel, my terrible Know Not Why/Supernatural opus. Can you believe it?? The second-least popular is building our kingdom, because of course my favorite is also the least popular, bwahaha. That’s what makes it so favorite! Someone has to love it!

7. Fandom you enjoyed writing for the most this year: This is wild, but I might say Harry Potter, just because putting those last few chapters on Lamentations of a Starry-Eyed Twit after thirteen years away really meant a lot to me! Killing Eve and Broadchurch were also very fun. (And maybe my whole soul was briefly consumed by trying to figure out how to capture Dean and Cas’s s4/s5 VIBE in mere words. What of it??)

8. Favorite character you wrote this year: My girl Auriga Sinistra in Lamentations! Briefly reunited and it felt so goooooood! Also, all my KNW babies. It was also very fun to briefly write/describe Alexis Rose in that sinking feeling. Oh, and Ellie Miller from Broadchurch was really fun! And trying to figure out Cas’s weird angel-brain point of view in the careful undressing of love?? Hey, this question sucks! My answer is EVERYBODY!

9. Favorite writing song inspiration: Hahahahaha, the songs of Cats in order to write my other most self-indulgent fic ever, Save Grizabella!, a.k.a. Angela and Oscar and Andy and Kevin and Dwight go watch Cats. That fic was really a very specific romp, and essential to my soul. I am really glad that I did it. I needed to put that into the world.

10. A new kink you wrote by surprise in a fic this year: This is a question for sexy people, and as such, I have no answer! But you know what, I will give a shout-out to Annie swooning over carbs-eating Zac Efron in Zefron Studies in the Time of Covid. What is sexier than a once too-chiseled man allowing himself to experience the carby bliss of pasta? (You, too,  can be that man, Jeff Winger!)

11. Something you learned about writing this year: Just keep doin’ it, I guess?? Just keep going! It’s worth it!

12. Current # of WIPs: Zero! I mean, there’s fics I have abandoned that I absolutely should go back to, but life is hard enough. I’m not putting that on me! (But I still lowkey hope I’ll finish that Mary/Branson Downton Abbey one someday, somehow. If I ever do a Downton rewatch, it might stand a chance.) I know I should delete all my unfinished WIPs just so people don’t have to waste their time on an unfinished story, but hey! I finished a fic I started in the year 2003 this year! Who knows what the future might bring?

13. Most memorable comment or review: I could not possibly choose one! To anyone who has ever left me a nice comment: bless you, you are my hero, you have lit up my day beyond what I can describe. All I do is check my AO3 homepage all day every day and hope. (Hahaha, I did get one that was like “Ugh, this SUCKS and is TERRIBLE!” at some point this year, and I didn’t really know what to do, so I just backed away slowly instead of engaging like a brave person. I’m sorry my fic sucked!!!!)

14. Favorite fic you read this year: Wedding Guy by @crackers4jenn - the delight of seeing SPN in a non-terrible-and-supernatural world! The perfect character voices! THE EPISTOLARY TEXTING ROMANCE AND ENSUING BUTTERFLIES!!! It’s really nice if you feel like your soul could use some Destiel romcom healing. (And no, I am in no way endorsing this masterpiece in order to slyly motivate said crackers4jenn to write more. Moi?? Never!)

16. Longest fic you wrote this year: sure as the sea, it’s just you and me. Grumble grumble! (Can you believe a mere 18,000 words nearly led to my psychological ruin???)

17. Shortest fic you wrote this year: Funnily, my other Grace & Frankie one! the bells are ringing for me and my gal. This one, I liked, because I wrote it in like under ten minutes. Now, that’s what I’m talking about! *finger guns*

18. How many fandoms did you write for this year: Broadchurch, Community, Dead To Me, Gilmore Girls, Good Omens, Grace and Frankie, Harry Potter, Ideal Home, Killing Eve, Know Not Why (I'm so sorry, world!), Little Women 2019, Schitt's Creek, Supernatural (hahaha!), and The Office. So, 14!

19. Favorite fandom event you participated in this year: I don’t think I officially participated in any, but the total deterioration of Tumblr by Destiel was incomparable. They called it the shippy November of dreams and it was, it really was.

20. Favorite fandom to read fic from this year: Supernatural, okay!!!!!!! I haven’t been reading a ton of fic, but damn it if I didn’t get lured back in by all those great Destiel fix-its! So much good stuff happening! I also LOVED the Grace & Frankie and Dead To Me masterpieces that @chainofclovers put out, especially every version of yourself tonight (DTM) and to justify what you need (G&F) and her tumblr ask box fics. (The Killing Eve one!) Is @chainofclovers fic basically a fandom all its own?? Uh, YES.